Rod-shaped glass material, either a solid material or in the form of tubes, is subdivided for many applications into sections and these sections re-used. For example, glass tube sections are used to manufacture reed switches. Likewise, glass tube sections are also used as packaging for other electrical and electronic components. Sections of solid glass rods are also used as light guides.
The sections are generally disconnected from the rod by breaking. However, the fractured edges can cause problems. Inter alia, fractures starting from the fractured edges can reduce the stability, have an adverse effect on the visual properties in the case of light guides and lead to leaks in glass tubes. The sharp edges which arise during the breaking process are in many case undesired. In order to avoid these problems, it is appropriate to melt the ends. However, in this process it is possible for problems to occur if the melting does not take place uniformly. In this case, it is possible, inter alia, for disadvantageous, intolerable deviations from the desired dimensions of the sections to occur.